Promise and vow
by StupidBolts
Summary: Nightscream asks Rattrap about the beast wars. Inpsired by rewatching Code Of Hero, where Dinobot asks the other to "Tell my tale to those who ask"... well, Nightscream asked!


_Tell my tale to those who ask, tell it truly  
The ill deeds, along with the good  
and let me be judged accordingly  
the rest... is silence._

"Rattrap...?" It was a pain. Being left alone in our tiny and pathetic excuse for a base with the bat brained brat! Back in the day when Cheetor was a kid, it was irritating but tolerable. He was far too energetic and cheery for my taste most of the time, but give the kitten some warm milk and he got all cuddly and relatively cute. Can't see him nuzzling my chest plate like that now though.

"What is it, squirt?" Nightscream pushed his lip out in an annoyed pout, teasing him always resulted in this. I knew I was shorter than him thanks to these slagging wheels! But it was the age difference I was referring to and he knew it.

"A while ago... when I commented on how pointless the Beast wars were... you snapped and pinned me to the ground!"

"Oh yeah, sorry kid..."

"It's okay, but that's not what not what I wanted to say!" Nightscream had a bad habit of not phrasing his sentences properly, especially if he was nervous. I got the feeling he was worried his question would make me mad or upset. "You said not to talk trash about that war, because you lost friends during it..." Oh. I think I can see where he's going with this. "... Who were they?" Aha. 10 points for the techno organic rat!

I sighed heavily and flicked another pebble down the ditch I was sitting by. I turned my head towards him; he was obviously in beast mode, his large and wildly patterned eyes staring at me vividly. I turned my head back to face the mouth of the seemingly bottomless hole and thought for a minute.

"I can understand if you don't want to talk about it... I know what it's like to lose friends like that." The kid was self-centred, turning around every conversation to be about him.

"I don't mind... I'm just thinking how to explain it to yah," Dinobot's voice rang throughout my head, _Tell my tale to those who ask_, and so on... drama queen! … I miss him. "His name was Dinobot kid, he was a stinking Pred! Or at least, he was until his ego got the better of him and he tried to overthrow Megs! He got kicked outta the Preds, and obviously came crawling to us Maximals... and wanted to be our leader!" I glanced at him. His head was canted in a peculiar way, like he was listening but didn't quite understand. "You following?"

"And you trusted him?"

"At first, no. I was the only one who didn't apparently! The others were wary, but just ran with what the boss monkey ordered! **I **kept my guard up!" He smiled. A flash of a smile, but that kid had a really cute smile. Like Spots used to have...

"Trust you!"

"Quiet you misshapen munchkin!" I waved a fist in feigned warning around his snout! He giggled and batted it away gently. "Anyways, Choppaface and I always used to argue and fight! Nasty names, nasty insults! Y'know?" He nodded. "Mm, well to bad for me! I spent more time with that slagger than I did with even Rhinox or Cheetor! And I'm sad to say... the bastard grew on me!" His optics widened in slight surprise. "I know, right?"

"You... became his friend?"

"At first, then he was my best friend, then something like a brother, heck we even finished each others' sentences occasionally!" I couldn't help but chuckle when I remembered how much 'Bolt and boss monkey would freak out when we did that, and when we spoke in unison! Even Rampage was off thrown by that! "And then..." I paused, wondering whether to continue.

"... 'And then'?" Well, when push comes to shove...

"We became more than friends or brother." Silence. The kid went silent and I think my fragging spark just stopped! I was almost too scared to look at him, but I managed. He was staring at me with half shuttered optics, a strange glimmer in them shone through, one of judgement and almost... understanding.

"What changed?"

"Everything." I dared to breath. "Megatron knew the humans helped the Autobots to win the war! In fact, they probably wouldn't have won if it weren't for their help! As a result, Megs and the other Preds all set out into an ol' valley to kill all the early humans and stopping them from breeding and evolving!" I looked back to the pit. "Dinobot was on a re-con mission at the time and somehow winded up being at the valley and figuring out Megatron's plans... and stupidly, like the big dumb lizard he was, took it upon himself to take down every single Pred, save the humans and..."

"... And?"

"And get himself killed." I sighed reluctantly. "If he hadn't... we wouldn't still be here kid. He's a hero and-"

_And let me be judged accordingly,_

"... He felt he owed us that much..." I could tell he detected my sentences' change of coarse, but ignored it.

"... That all true?"

"Yup. Every word kiddo. Good ol' lizard lips was all hung up on honour and such... y'know, that kinda thing Cheetor picked up on."

"From Dinobot?" I nodded. Nightscream looked away thoughtfully, he probably still didn't want to upset me by insulting my partner... but I'd be even more upset if he insulted Dinobot's name by lying to me about his opinion.

Suddenly, a bright smile lit up his face. "How cool!" He suddenly chirped. "I didn't think there were any Predacons like that! Honour? Wow!" He genuinely sounded like a kid all hyped up about his favourite TV hero. I was quite spark warming. "What else can you tell me?" He rolled onto all fours and leaned towards me in excitement. So like Cheetor's old self.

"... He was a good kisser."

"Eww! Rattrap!"


End file.
